The latest release of police information with allegations that Mayor Rob Ford was doing drugs at a known crack house and offering $5,000 and a car to an alleged gang member to buy back a video of him appearing to smoke crack cocaine has left key questions unanswered.

Many of the allegations against Ford have stemmed from a nearly 500-page police document that details an investigation into the mayor. The allegations have not been proven in court.

The Star looked at what we’ve learned so far, what we still don’t know and what happens next, according to legal experts:

Is the investigation over?

According to police, an investigation is ongoing.

Since May, lead investigators pulled from the homicide squad have been looking into the mayor and information about the crack video. That investigation became known as Project Brazen 2 and continues today. It includes the arrest of Ford friend Alexander Lisi on drug charges and extortion. Police say Lisi allegedly threatened alleged gang members to get the video back. That case has yet to go to trial.

As they continue their probe, police are being tight-lipped about what they are working on now.

What are the allegations against Mayor Rob Ford?

According to police surveillance, interviews and wiretap information contained in the Project Brazen 2 information to obtain document (ITO), Ford is alleged, among other things, to have a substance abuse problem with drugs and alcohol, has driven while drunk and verbally and physically abused his staff.

So why hasn’t Ford been charged? Is the mayor getting special treatment from the police?

Criminal defence lawyer Dirk Derstine said he believes police are being “exceptionally cautious” with their investigation

“He hasn’t been charged because he’s the mayor of Toronto and the police want to have a rock solid case before they actually go,” Derstine said. “I’ve certainly had clients who have been charged on flimsier evidence than this.”

Derstine said the latest batch of information, including the conversations of alleged gang members discussing Ford’s drug use, is not enough to convict the mayor.

“The fact that they’re discussing it amongst themselves is by itself not proof,” he said.

He added that the offer to pay for something, as Ford allegedly did with the cash and car in exchange for the crack video, is not illegal.

“No one would proceed in a case where you have some third parties indicating that they saw someone consume drugs,” Young said.

While the wiretaps were ongoing, Young said police would have blown up the large Project Traveller investigation into gun and drug trafficking to try to move in on Ford — who was never the target of that probe.

Young said he doesn’t believe Ford is getting preferential treatment. He said police have the discretion to charge someone.

“They’re not going to get involved in a charging process when there’s very little prospect of conviction,” he said.

Though the wiretaps may not be grounds to charge Ford, defence lawyer Clayton Ruby said he doesn’t understand why officers didn’t move in when Ford and Lisi were passing packages during clandestine meetings watched by police.

Ruby said police had reason to believe Lisi was dealing drugs to the mayor and had reasonable and probable grounds to arrest or search the mayor at the time of the exchanges.

“The police chose to do neither,” he said. “I think it’s inexplicable and there’s been no explanation.”

Ruby said officers could have gotten a search warrant from a judge through the Telewarrant system while watching Ford, which allows investigators to get a warrant over the phone in some circumstances instead of going to court.

“How long do you think that takes? This is not Law & Order where you make a quick phone call and somebody runs over with a warrant 10 minutes later,” he said. “And are you going to ruin the bigger investigation, the larger investigation for that? It’s absolutely ludicrous to suggest that as an investigative option.”

Police spokesman Mark Pugash said under the expected “microscopic scrutiny” from the public, he believes investigators have been accountable.

“You need evidence. . . . You can’t cut corners because some people really, really want you to charge someone,” he said. “The law applies whether it’s somebody who is well known or unknown.”

Where did the wiretaps come from?

On March 18, Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer authorized the police to intercept private communications in a different probe called Project Traveller — focused on a group called the Dixon City Bloods, a gang whose turf is the Dixon Rd. complex in Etobicoke. Police believed the group was involved in smuggling guns and drugs into Toronto from Windsor. The wiretaps were authorized to run between that day and May 17. They targeted 59 people known to police, but ultimately captured more people who would call or be called by the targets. One of those people was Lisi.

Police first learned about the crack video months before Project Brazen 2. Police were listening in on the alleged gang members during Project Traveller when they started discussing the mayor and plans to ask for $150,000 in exchange for the video.

The investigators in Project Brazen 2 accessed the wiretap information from their colleagues and pulled out information related to Ford. They wrote summaries of those details in the ITO police document to get a search warrant for Lisi’s property.

It is clear that not all of the information police learned from the wiretap is in the Project Brazen 2 ITO. The wiretap information that is summarized shows no indication Ford was ever caught on the wire.

Is there any more information to be released from the search warrant document?

Almost the entire Project Brazen 2 ITO has now been revealed to the public after the Star and other media outlets fought in court for its release.

A few personal identifiers, like birthdates and phone numbers, remain blacked out, and details from confidential informants and police investigative techniques will remain censored.

There is another category relating to personal information that Nordheimer ruled should not be released.

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